Rotary engine.



PATENTED DEG. 6, 1904.

F. C. FRANCISCO.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLmATIoN FILED MAY 2s, 1904.

No MODEL. 2 SHEETS-amm? 1.

PATENTED DEC. 6, 1904. F. G. FRANCISCO.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIQATION FILED MAY 2s, 1904.

A No MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented December 6, 1904.`

PATENT OEEICE.

FREI) C. FRANCISCO, OF CUYAHOGA FALLS, OHIO.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 776,658, dated.December 6, 1904. Application filed May 23, 1904. Serial No, 209,204.(No model.)

To (if/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED (J. FRANCISCO, a citizen of the United States,residing' at Ouyahoga Falls, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio,have invented acertain new and useful Improvementin Rotary Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to rotary engines using' a fluid underpressure as a motive power.

The objects of my invention are to make a rotary engine of greatsimplicity of construction and economy in the consumption of the Huidemployed as a power and to provide in connection with said eng'inecertain peculiar devices for taking up or compensating for the wearincident to its operation, so as to prevent loss of operative fluid andpower in the device after becoming slightly worn from use and to soconstruct these devices that they can be operated or shifted at anydesired time and Without the necessity of dismantling' the engine.

To the accomplishment of the aforesaid objects my invention consists inthe new and peculiar construction, arrangement, and combination of thevarious parts hereinafter described, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference-numeralsindicate like parts in the different iig'ures, Figure 1 is a verticalcentral section of the cylinder portion of my improved eng'ine with thepiston removed; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the entire engine at theline X of Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a section at the line Y of Fig. 2; Fig. 1, anelevation of one of the end heads used on the engine, and Fig. 5 asection at the line Z of Fig. 3.

In the drawings, 1 is the base of the engine, which is generallyfastened to some suitable support by bolts 2, and rising from this base1 and integral therewith is the main cylinder portion 3 of the device,which consists in a short round body of metal provided at both sides orends with flanges 4, to which are fastened the closing ends or heads 5and 6 by bolts 7. The central portion of the body 3 is hollowed outeither by coring' or boring into an opening 8, and through the exactcenter of Which is a horizontal transverse shaft 9, on the outer freeend of which itis designed to place a pulley, gear, or sprocket wheel toafford a means to convey power to selected machinery; but this hasnothing' to do with the understanding' of the device, and hence is notshown. Fastened on this shaft 9 by a key 10 centrally between the sidesof the body 3 is a heavyrimmed wheel 11, the width of which is equal tothe thickness of the cylinder 3. At certain equidistant points in therim of this wheel 11 are cut radial slots 12, extending through the rimand down into the spokes or web which connects the rim with the hub, andin these slots 12 are blades 13, whose width is slightly less than thedistance from the bottom of the slots 12 to the outer boundary of theopening' 8 and of a length suiiicient to extend to the end plates 5 and6. The shell or wall 14 of the cylinder-body, which ineloses and formsthe opening' 8, is cut out or enlarged on either side of thelongitudinal horizontal center of the opening 8, so as to leave fourpockets 15, 16, 17, and 18, and the outer ends of these pocketsterminate in abrupt shoulders where they meet the normal surface of theopening 8. To cover these pockets and afford g'uides for the radialblades 13, there is placed across the pockets 15 and 16, with its centerimmediately in front of ridge 13, formed between the pockets and Iinsttouching' the rim of the wheel 11, a spring-plate .19, and a similarplate 2O is placed across the pockets 17 and 18. The ends of these.spi'ing-ljilates 19 and 2() lit nicely into the shouldered ends of thepockets, and as they are of a thickness equal to the depth of theshoulder they offer no resistance or obstruction to the passage overthem of the blades 13, and being' of a width equal to the wheel 11 theyextend to the end plates 5 and 6.

Through the spring-plate 19 are cut oblique slots 21 and 22 and throughthe plate f2() openings 23 24;. These openings or slots are all similarin shape, and preferably parallel with each other. the slots 21 and 23being cut in their respective plates 19 and 20 opposite the pockets 15and 17 and the slots 22 and 24 opposite the pockets 16 and 18. Aroundthe shell or wall 14 of the cylinder-body 3 are cored two parallelcavities 25 and 26, having IOO a configuration similar to the shell 14,independent of each other and provided at the top of the device withpipes 27 and 28, respectively. The cavity 26 communicates with thepocket 16 by port 29 and with the pocket 17 by a port 30, and the cavity25 communicates with the pocket 18 by a port 31 (see Fig. 1) and withpocket 15 by a port 32. (Indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.)

The shaft 9 is supported by long sleevebearings in the heads 5 and 6 andare pron vided with replaceable antifriction-bushings 33. The sleeve onthe head 5 is provided with a cap 34 to prevent end motion of the shaftand any leakage of the operative iiuid, and the end of the sleeve on thehead 6 has a stuffingl-box 35 to also prevent leakage at that enc. i

Projecting inwardly from each of the heads 5 and 6 are integral sleeves36, having a rectangular exterior, and over these are placed the lowerhalves 37 of cams whose operation will be described hereinafter. Theupper halves 39 of these cams are made in the shape of a letter U, thelegs of which nicely fit and slide on the outer faces of the lowerhalves 37, and suiiicient material is cut from both halves to allow aslight vertical motion of each, and the openings in the lower halves forthe sleeves 36 are suiiiciently long vertically to permit their movementin that direction. The tops and bottoms of both halves are 'concentricwith the center of the shaft 9 and are just far enough removed therefromto permit the passage edgewise of the blades 13 between their edges andthe outer face of the opening 8. The two halves of the cams are eachheld to their respective heads by bolts 40, (see Fig. 5,) and theopenings in the heads 5 and 6 for their passage is vertically elongated,as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4, to allow the movement of thebolts 4() and the halves 37 and 39. The sides of the cams are vertical,joining their tops and bottoms by easy curves, and the sides are such adistance from the center of the shaft 9 that when the edges of theblades 13 ride over their outer sides the opposite edges of the bladeswill be iiush with the outer periphery of the wheel 11. To adjust therelative positions vertically of the halves of the cams, there is cut intheir only horizontal abutting faces registering grooves the tops andbottoms of which incline toward each other and away from the center ofthe device. In these grooves are placed bolts 41 with wedge-shaped headsand with long threaded shanks which extend through appropriately-boredopenings in the heads 5 and 6 and are held in place and moved by nuts42. It will be seen that by drawing outward the bolts 41 by the nuts 42after releasing the set-bolts 40 the space between the halves may beincreased at pleasure, and then after tightening the set-bolts 40 thecams are locked firmly in place, and this may be done at any timewithout removing the heads 5 and 6.

In order to keep the center of the springplates 19 and 2O gently butfirmly in contact with the rim of the wheel 11, there are cut across theridges 43, which exist between the pockets 15 16 and 17 18, transversegrooves, with their open sides toward the shaft 9. In these grooves areplaced bars 44, having three straight faces and one inclined one and ofa length equal to the width ofthe cylinder and are designed to be heldin place by the heads 5 and 6. The bars 44 are placed in the grooveswith their inclined faces away from the center of the shaft 9 and theiropposite straight faces touching the rear of the central portion of thesprings 19 and 20. The balance of the space in the grooves is occupiedby bolts 45, having long heads with one inclined face which is placedagainst the inclined face of the bars 44, and the shanks of these bolts45 are threaded and project through holes 46 in one of the heads 5 or 6.On the outer tends of these bolts 45 are nuts 47, by which the positionof the heads of the bolts may be adjusted and maintained. If at anytimeon account of wear or other cause the inner central portions of thesprings 19 and 2O do not touch and make a fairly-good iuid-tight jointwith the outer periphery of the rim of the wheel 11, the bolts 45 aredrawn outward by means of the nuts 47, which press the bars 44 inwardagainst the springs 19 and 20 and causes them to bend inward until theyencounter the wheel 11.

The operation of the device is as follows: Using the fluid-cavity 26 asan illustration, because it more clearly shows in the drawings, a iiuidunder pressure is admitted by the pipe 28 into the cavity 26, fromwhence it simultaneously enters the space 8 by ports 29 and 30 and slots22 and 23 in the spring-plates 19 and 20, and as it cannot escapesidewise by reason of the heads 5 and 6 nor backward by reason of thecontact of the rim of the wheel 11, springs 19 and 20, and bars .44 inthe ridges 43 it acts on the two vertical blades 13 in Fig. 3, whichextend from the outer wall of the opening 8 to the cams on the heads 5and 6 and, driving them forward, revolve the wheel and shaft 9. When thevertical blades 13 pass the slots 21 and 24 in the springplates 19 and20, the iiuid escapes into the pockets 15 and 18 and from thence byports 31 and 32 into the cavity 25 to the outlet-pipe 27.

It will be obvious that by introducing the operative iuid into pipe 27and using the pipe 28 as an outlet the motion of the engine will bereversed.

That I claim is- 1. The combination in a device of the class described,of a cylinder-body having a central opening and fluid-conductingcavities in said body about said central opening', portions of the wallof said central opening being con- IOO centric with the center of tbepiston-shaft of tbe device, pockets in the body opening` into saidcentral opening, ports to connect said pockets and uid-eonductingcavities, a suit ably-mounted rotary piston in said central opening,radially-movable blades in said piston, slotted spring-plates to coverthe pockets liereinbefore referred to, and wedge-shaped bars and boltsmounted transversely in the Wall of said Cylinder-body and bearingagainst said spring-plates and capable of adjustment outside of saidcylinder by means of nuts to keep said spring-plates against said rotarypiston.

2. The combination in a device of the class designated, of acylinder-body having a main central openmg and Hind-conducting eavitlesin said body about said central opening' and connecting` therewith and asuitably-mounted rotary piston in said central opening, heads providedwith integral sleeves to elose tlie end openings in said cylinder,two-part Cams mounted on said sleeves, the parts ot' said Cams being'adjustable With relation to each other, and forming' with the wall oi"said oentral opening a race for the radial blades mounted in saidpiston.

In testimony that I Claim the above l hereunto set my hand in thepresence of two subscribing' Witnesses.

FRED C. FRANCISCU.

Witnesses:

C. E. HUMPHREY, GLENARA Fox.

